Further Adventures of Steve Hooker's Poles

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/fin ... 40956.html

Finding champ's lost poles a real tall order

Geoff McClure
February 22, 2007

Geelong schoolgirl bowls sensation Samantha Warren shows off herstylish new bowling attire.
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LUGGAGE being lost in transit is an all-too common occurrence for airline passengers but is one that even happens to the rich and the famous, sports types included. Just ask Commonwealth Games pole vault gold medallist Steve Hooker, although the tale he has to tell is much more bizarre than the norm.

What's more, he's still trying to get to the bottom of it. Not only did his most treasured possession, his favourite set of poles, go missing on a trip to America last month, but no sooner had he got them back again in time for his next event in Europe but an airline company misplaced them for a second time when he flew back to Australia. Now, how a cylindrical package the size of a dinner plate and measuring five metres long can get lost is anybody's guess, but it's where it has since bobbed up that has Hooker really baffled.

Back home for the Athletics Australia A-Series that starts in his home town of Melbourne next Friday, Hooker revealed that not long after returning, he received a call from America. On the other end of the line was a little old lady from somewhere in California. "Hello, is your name Steve Hooker?" said the voice. "And are you looking for some big poles because if you are, they've just arrived at my place." To this day Hooker has no idea how they made it to that part of the world - or to her precise address - his only guess being that it could be linked to some markings on the package that indicate the poles were made in California. Mind you, given the cost of shipping them to Australia, Hooker could hardly have asked the caller if she would mind sending them on, so in the meantime he plans to use his back-up poles in the hope that the airline company will eventually come good. Oh well, at least he now knows where they are - and that they are in one piece.

As any international pole vaulter will tell you, travelling with such weighty and cumbersome items - and ones that are valued at about $1000 each - is an occupational hazard. Stars in the past have arrived at their destination only to discover airline staff couldn't squeeze the poles into the cargo hold so they proceeded to break them in half, rendering them useless.

[Cooleo111]

Stars in the past have arrived at their destination only to discover airline staff couldn't squeeze the poles into the cargo hold so they proceeded to break them in half, rendering them useless

Is that true??

[achtungpv]

Was it Bubka who had his poles sawed in half so they'd fit on the plane while traveling to Brazil?